THE SIMS AFFAIR

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 77, 31 March 1920, Page 5

THE SIMS AFFAIR

MEDALS AND SWIVEL CHAIRS HOW A TORNADO WAS LOOSED, THE ANTI-BRITISH LEAVEN. (From Our Special Correspondent.). LOS ANGELES (CaL), 24th Jam. .

By refuging to accept the Distinguished Service Medal sent to him ;by Mr. Josephus, Daniels, Secretary of the. Navy, Admiral Sims—the fighting admiral—has focussed public attention on- the practice of awarding medals where no distinguished service has been, rendered. He did more than this, however, for the inquiries that have been started have unearthed matters that are unquestionably sensational and involve foreign. Powers. An illustration, of the method .of pro.-', cedure is found in the award of the Distinguished Service Medal to the Librarian of Congress for the "distinguished service" he was supposed to have rendered in the distribution of books and papers during the war. This offer was declined by the Librarian on the ground that his assistants had done a greatdeal of the work. In his letter of refusal, Admiral Sims expressed: his indignation at the award of' the Distinguished Service .Medal to many officers who got no closer to the war than navigating their swivel chairs in Washington, and to.oißcers who lost their ships, under circumstances not to their -credit, while the decoration was withheld from officers, who covered themselves ' with glory. His recommendations we're hot approved, by. the Board of- Awards,-al-though he had first-hand knowledge of the services rendered. MR. DANIELS "PASSES THE BUCK." "The Board of Awards," said Mr. Daniels, "is not a statutory body, but a group of officers designated by me to consider recommendations and report for my guidance. I think the men who endangered their lives in the armed guard service during the war were entitled to recognition, if anyone was. None of these men were included in the recommendation of the board, and I determined to include every commander of a torpedoed ship who. had done his duty under the trying circumstances like a man. Commander Bagley,, my brother-in-law, happened to be one of these men." The Secretary added that he favoured the preferment of fighting men, ;while the Admiral favoured shore leaders, who planned and directed. He at once reconvened the board, after the charges were made, because, he said, he was convinced-that it had been too liberal, particularly in regard to officers whose duty was mainly or altogether on shore. A number of officers have refused medals offered them.. It has come >oufc that Admiral Sims censured Admiral Wilson in a report to Mr. Daniels, but the latter ignored the report and appointed Wilson to the command, of the Atlantic Fleet. All the departmental rows of the Daniels regime are said to be coming to a head. Officers _ are divided into the Sims, and Daniels- factions, and the entire situation is regarded as seriously threatening the morale of the navy. SPAIN AS A GERMAN ALLY. Rear-Admiral Benton C. Decker, commander of the Florida. Station, who was U.S. Naval Attache in Spain, said before an investigating committee of the Senate that the effect of "the'work, done by him and those associated with him in Madrid kept Spain from entering the war against the Allies at the time of the German offensive in March,". 1918,*' and prevented a resumption of the submarine activities off the coast of Spain. This was done in spite of the opposition of Mr. J. E. Willard, the Ambassador. At that time, Italy was prostrate, the Allies were.in an exceedingly difficult position, and Spain could have.marched a million men into France just when the, Government was preparing for the second time to move from Paris. State Department officials declared that they were some-, what in the dark over this matter.

ANTI-BRITISH INSTRUCTIONS. In evidence before the committee, Admiral Sims said that when' he was ordered to England in March, 1917, just before the United States entered the war, he was ' instructed,, by the Navy Department "not to let the British pull the wool over your eyes," and that "we would just as sooii. fight the British as the Central Powers." American Naval Headquarters in, London did not receive co-operation, from the Department, which did not arrive at any decided plan of action until ten months after he arrived in London, and it was that time before "we came to the aid of, .the Allies." When war came,, he. added, many naval units wer-e widely dispersed and in need of repairs; the commander was never allowed to select his subordinates; and the Department made decisions on operations 3000 miles away concerning which it could not have had sufficient information. The charges that Mr. Daniels hampered efficient prosecution of the war on submarines at a cost of many lives, and hundred's of thousands of tons of shipping, have placed the Secretary on trial. The latter said- that Sims frequently clashed with the Department through ills insistence that more destroyers be withdrawn from troop convoys, .to augment the anti-submarine forces, but the pax-amount duty of: the navy was to protect troops crossing the seas, arid the safeguarding of shipping, though vital, ■ was secondary. On this point, Sims was overruled by Bear-Admiral Mayo. Com-mander-iu-Chief, as well as by the Department. The duties of Sims were not .afloat. His business was to give information, make recommendations, and obey, orders. THE HEARST/SENTIMENT. In furtherance of their ceaseless antiBritish campaign, all the Hearst papers say editorially :-—"lf it was Daniels who told Sims w.e would just as soon.fight the British as the Germans, he spoke like a real American. One of the most distasteful things done by. Mr. Wilson was the selection, of Sims to command our fleet in European waters. Most of us felt that there were plenty of officers, American in birth and sentiment, fit to command without selecting one of British birth (in Canada), who never lost an opportunity of exalting the British Crown. We do not forget Sims' s speech in London in 1910,' in which he insulted the ordinary decencies of international relations, by promising that if England got into a rea-l war, she could rely on our last dollar and last drop of' blood. He was reprimanded, and should have been cashiered. Nor do the thousands of citizens of Irish descent forget the insulting remarks meted out to their kin in, Ireland by Sims. : The instructions will not draw any tears from real American eyes, for that is just the way real Americans think about it. We have had too much of this pro-British intriguing in our affairs. When it begins to thrust its fingers into our navy—our only defence against British Imperialism —Americans will speak so clearly that none will misunderstand." [A recent cable message reported that Admiral Sims had stated that the author of tho "wooi-over-your eyes" remarks wns Admiral Benson, chief "of the naval ataffJ. ... .. . ■